research – Alaska Sea Grant

Before her J.D., working on HABs

By Tom Moran | September 15, 2026

A woman stands in a laboratory holding a small plastic tray filled with small vials of blue liquid.

Tessa Davis didn’t have to leave her home in Kodiak to take part in an Alaska Sea Grant Community-Engaged Fellowship. But for the aspiring human-rights lawyer, spending the summer helping…

Oyster farms don’t alter sea otter fodder

By Tom Moran | September 8, 2026

A sea otter lies on its back in the water.

To you and I, farmed oysters are a delicacy. But for sea otters, oyster farms may not be a big deal. That’s one finding of a team of scientists led…

From fungi to foam

By Kyle Kolda | July 14, 2026

A man stands next to a 2.5-foot model of a house wall insulated with wood and mycelium foam.

An innovative alternative to Styrofoam might be growing in your backyard. A team led by University of Alaska Anchorage researcher Philippe Amstislavski is exploring how mycelium, the root structure of…

Alaska Sea Grant announces research awards

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 26, 2026

A woman stands on the deck of a boat holding a crossbow. She smiles at the camera. She has an infant strapped to her chest. In the distance is a whale fluke.

Alaska Sea Grant’s latest round of research projects stretch across the state of Alaska and the scale of life on earth. The five projects selected to receive Alaska Sea Grant…

In a typhoon’s wake at WAISC

By Tom Moran | May 18, 2026

An Alaska Native elder in a blue sweater stands before a microphone, speaking to a crowd of people sitting at folding tables.

Ex-Typhoon Halong played itself out in the northern stretches of the Bering Sea more than six months ago. But the storm’s continuing power was evident at the 2026 Western Alaska…

Alaska Sea Grant announces 2026 Community-Engaged Fellows

By Alaska Sea Grant | May 14, 2026

A young woman in a lab coat and goggles hovers her hand above a water pitcher in a laboratory.

Six undergraduate students will get a leg up in their careers this summer while helping Alaska’s coastal communities through Alaska Sea Grant’s Community-Engaged Fellowship program. The fellows will work on…

Old Harbor studies the old ways

By Kyle Kolda | April 21, 2026

A teenage girl in orange overalls and a black T-shirt leans over a hole in the dirt with a trowel. Beside her, another teenage girl in a maroon hoodie and blue pants crouches over the hole, also holding a trowel.

Old Harbor is turning to its past to plot out its future. With support from Alaska Sea Grant, a group of researchers are partnering with the Alutiiq Tribe of Old…

Petersburg plans for landslides

By Tom Moran | April 16, 2026

Two men with backpacks look down the path of a landslide through a forest.

You can’t do much to stop a landslide. But in Petersburg, an Alaska Sea Grant-supported effort will help residents better understand which areas are most at risk. “We’ve seen a…

Sharing science across Alaska

By Tom Moran | March 18, 2026

A montage of posters advertising public lectures on science topics.

What do walrus monitoring, the Tracy Arm tsunami and salmon bycatch have in common? All of them are important topics for audiences in Alaska’s coastal communities. Which is why each…

Alaska Sea Grant well-represented at symposium

By Kyle Kolda | March 3, 2026

A young woman in casual dress stands smiling next to a scientific poster.

Contributions by Alaska Sea Grant students and researchers at this year’s Alaska Marine Science Symposium were all over the food web. Their presentations focused on marine fauna ranging from humpback…